Great news, everyone.
After a 40 percent drop in ratings from 2014 to 2015 -- a year-over-year drop rivaled only by the NBA Finals transitioning from Michael Jordan's 1998 swan song to the lockout season of 1999 -- the College Football Playoff has adjusted its 2016-17 schedule by moving the semifinals.... up one hour.
The CFP will move the 2016 semifinals -- the Fiesta and Peach bowls -- from 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET to 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Due to the shift, the Orange Bowl will shift from New Year's Eve afternoon to the night of Dec. 30. Staging of the Peach and Fiesta bowls will be decided when match-ups are announced on Dec. 4.
2016-17 College Football Playoff schedule
Dec. 30 (kick TBA) -- Orange Bowl
Dec. 31 (3 p.m. ET) -- Peach/Fiesta Bowl (semifinal)
Dec. 31 (7 p.m. ET) -- Peach/Fiesta Bowl (semifinal)
Jan. 2 (1 p.m. ET) -- Cotton Bowl
Jan. 2 (5 p.m. ET) -- Rose Bowl
Jan. 2 (8:30 p.m. ET) -- Sugar Bowl
“The first two years have shown us that the playoff is extremely popular with fans and that we successfully struck an appropriate balance creating a new event while maintaining the great traditions that have enabled college football to hold such an important place in the country’s culture,” Hancock said, in possibly the most ironic statement of all time.
New Year's Eve falls on a Saturday this year, allowing the CFP to kick its semifinal at noon on the West Coast in an effort to have the later semifinal wrapped up by the time the ball drops in Times Square.
The rotation moves back to the Rose and Sugar bowls during the 2017 season -- meaning a return to sanity with semifinals played on Jan. 1, 2018 -- which allows the conference commissioners running the College Football Playoff to kick the can down the road on weekday, New Year's Eve semifinal games all the way until Monday, Dec. 31, 2018.